Editorial | Keep going, Cards!

Were it not for Sunday's absolutely horrific injury to University of Louisville guard Kevin Ware, it could well have gone down as one of the best days ever for Cardinal basketball.

The men's team beat Duke, a virtual blow-out at 85-63, sending the Cards to the Final Four in Atlanta.

The same evening, the U of L women's basketball team pulled off a stunning upset of top-ranked Baylor, the defending national champion in the women's NCAA Tournament, a victory securing the Cards a round in the final eight.

The men's victory was even even more resounding because the guys did it without Mr. Ware, after he suffered a compound fracture in a freak landing that took him out of the game in the first half. No one watching will forget the horror and tears on the faces of his teammates and Coach Rick Pitino or the shocked silence in the Indianapolis stadium.

But one day later, excellent news from Indianapolis, where Mr. Ware underwent surgery to fix his leg: He was up and walking on crutches Monday and hopes to make it to his hometown of Atlanta by Saturday when the Cards play Wichita State in the Final Four. Calls have poured in from well-wishers and his prospects of returning to basketball are promising, according to his coach and several experts in sports orthopedics interviewed by The Courier-Journal.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ware is admiring the tournament trophy in his hospital room - a symbol of the powerful influence he had on his shaken teammates when, as he was leaving for the hospital, he urged them to play on.

"I'll be fine, win the game,'' he repeated - 12 times, according to Mr. Pitino.

And win they did, in a blaze of spectacular basketball that left the Blue Devils watching helplessly as the Cards piled up the lead.

Shortly afterwards, in Oklahoma City, the women's team scored one of the biggest victories in the program's history when they knocked off Baylor - a team few expected to lose and most had picked to win the championship.

The hard-fought contest came down to two successful free throws by Monique Reid in the final 2.6 seconds of the game to put the Cards ahead 82-81, causing the team and Coach Jeff Walz to explode in joy and a crabby Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey to grouse about the officiating, even though U of L wound up on the short end of three technical fouls.

The team deserves enormous credit for containing Baylor's 6-foot-8 Brittney Griner, considered one of the top women players in college basketball, and for staying cool and battling on when their lead began to fade.

The U of L women take on Tennessee tonight at 9 p.m. and we hope Cardinal fans who can't be there will tune in to root for the team.

As for the men, we wish for their continued success and a speedy recovery for Mr. Ware.

It's a great time to be a Cards fan!

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Editorial | Keep going, Cards!

Were it not for Sunday's absolutely horrific injury to University of Louisville guard Kevin Ware, it could well have gone down as one of the best days ever for Cardinal basketball.